The Garden
by Music Intuition
Summary: Here's a toast to things that have been broken over and over and over. - MangaQuestShipping; Gold & Crystal.


_**Author's Note:**__ A Mangaquest version of the 100 Themes challenge. No more than one sentence for each theme, linear timeline. Many of them can't stand alone, but it does form a story. I hope you enjoy._

* * *

**The Garden**

_001. Introduction_

When Crystal shrieked and scrambled away, calling her would-be rescuers 'punks', Gold couldn't help but feel a streak of pride; he could live with that introduction.

* * *

_002. Love_

Crystal swore she could never love this lying, rude, perverted swine of a companion; Gold swore to prove her wrong.

* * *

_003. Light_

When Crystal sprained her ankle hiking, Gold easily picked her up, exclaiming, "You're so light!" as she squirmed in his arms.

* * *

_004. Dark_

"Afraid of the dark, Super-Serious Girl?" Gold asked as they found shelter from the rain within a cave.

* * *

_005. Seeking Solace_

Crystal pretended to be seeking solace for a while, but really she just didn't want Gold to see the tears in her eyes from the swollen ankle; she was stronger than that.

* * *

_006. Break Away_

"Gold..." Crystal tried to break away from their first kiss, but she couldn't; it was just too good.

* * *

_007. Heaven_

A voice from outside the closet door made them both jump apart like startled rabbits; "Time's up! How did you lovebirds enjoy your 'seven minutes in heaven'?" smirked Blue, pulling open the door and causing them both to blush deeply.

* * *

_008. Innocence_

"Crystal! You'll ruin my innocence if you keep kissing me like that!" lied Gold, namesake eyes begging for more.

* * *

_009. Drive_

When Gold said, "You're driving me insane," it was usually out of lust, but when Crystal said it, it was usually anger.

* * *

_010. Breathe Again_

Gold snorted in anger; he wanted to make out some more, but Crystal said she wanted to breathe again; the nerve!

* * *

_011. Memory_

Every memory she had of him showed him to be a 'typical' teenage boy, and every encounter proved this true.

* * *

_012. Insanity_

Crystal told Blue in confidence that she couldn't handle the insanity any more; she knew that Gold would find out within the week.

* * *

_013. Misfortune_

When he finally called two days later, he had the misfortune of talking to her mom first; Crystal let him desperately babble on for a good fifteen minutes before finally rescuing him.

* * *

_014. Smile_

He whined, "I just want to see your smile again;" She could practically hear the rehearsal in that line and wondered how many other girls had heard it.

* * *

_015. Silence_

He hung his head in despair when he heard the phone click, followed by silence.

* * *

_016. Questioning_

When Gold asked _Red_ of all people for relationship advice, Blue shot him a questioning look. He said nothing.

* * *

_017. Blood_

As they sat on a log outside Red's house, Gold admitted, "All the blood rushes out of my head whenever I see her and I can't think straight," and Red frowned but said nothing; that only happened to him when he saw a little blond girl, but that wasn't love (was it?).

* * *

_018. Rainbow_

He tried telling her over the phone that after every storm comes a rainbow, but she called him a liar.

* * *

_019. Gray_

When he showed up at her new apartment with flowers, she was in a t-shirt and gray sweatpants and he had never been so attracted to a person in his life.

* * *

_020. Fortitude_

As he tried to convince her to take him back, he realized exactly how much fortitude loving Crystal would require.

* * *

_021. Vacation_

Gold promised to take it slow then invited her on vacation; Crystal smiled and hesitantly agreed.

* * *

_022. Mother Nature_

As they stood hand-in-hand at Cerulean Bay, Crystal wondered if this beautiful weather meant that Mother Nature approved of them the way that her own mother hadn't.

* * *

_023. Cat_

When they kissed goodbye for the evening, Gold handed her a stuffed Skitty doll, and Crystal tried to push it away, claiming "You didn't have to - ", but he pressed the plush cat into her arms anyway.

* * *

_024. No Time_

In almost no time at all, winter arrived and Crystal cried every night because Gold was back home visiting family.

* * *

_025. Trouble Lurking_

When Gold came back with a girl named 'Lyra' from his hometown, he knew there was trouble lurking from the look on Crystal's face.

* * *

_026. Tears_

"She's just a friend," he swore through her tears; clearly she didn't believe him.

* * *

_027. Foreign_

The concept of jealousy was foreign to Crystal; she'd never had anything she was afraid to lose.

* * *

_028. Sorrow_

The girl saw only sorrow in the rainclouds that covered the city all week.

* * *

_029. Happiness_

"...and I'll never find happiness again," caterwauled Blue into a microphone when the female Dex holders went out for some karaoke on a Saturday night; it gave Crystal some guilty pleasure to find out that they were all having just as much trouble with their love lives.

* * *

_030. Under The Rain_

When she walked home under the rain after a night with the girls, it wasn't them that she missed.

* * *

_031. Flowers_

The next morning, Gold showed up with enough flowers to start her own garden.

* * *

_032. Night_

By the time night came along, they were back to handholding, although Crystal was considerably more cautious than before.

* * *

_033. Expectations_

"Your expectations are too high, Super-Serious Girl," Gold commented, lounging on the couch she'd bought with her own money, while she thought maybe her standards were too low.

* * *

_034. Stars_

But when he fell asleep watching 'Dancing with the Stars', her heart melted at the innocence in his face_._

* * *

_035. Hold My Hand_

When they found out what had happened to their seniors and Silver three weeks later, Gold muttered, "Hold my hand;" Crystal willingly obliged, wanting to know for a fact that he was still there.

* * *

_036. Precious Treasure_

"I heard there's some kind of precious treasure on this island," Gold commented when they dropped their bags in the little hut on Two Island.

* * *

_037. Eyes_

"Keep your eyes on the target!" the old woman barked during training, hitting Gold on the head with her walking stick. "She's pretty, but you have a job to do!"

* * *

_038. Abandoned_

"You know, we're the only ones out here, abandoned on this nice island..." Gold said suggestively, leaning closer, but Crystal just laughed and pushed him away.

* * *

_039. Dreams_

Crystal could tell when Gold had bad dreams, because he started shaking and turning in his sleep; every time, she would sit up straight in the bed they shared and take his head in her lap and stroke his hair until his eyebrows came uncreased.

* * *

_040. Rated_

When they finally arrived in Hoenn, Gold's first words were, "Let's go eat in a top-rated restaurant!" and Crystal had to pinch his ear and drag him along.

* * *

_041. Teamwork_

Teamwork saved their seniors, but the sight of the sun setting over Battle Frontier saved _them_.

* * *

_042. Standing Still_

Gold didn't think anything strange about the sight of Crystal standing still in the door to her - _their _- apartment, until he saw tears in her eyes as she sobbed, "Finally home."

* * *

_043. Dying_

In only three more years, Crystal got the news; Professor Oak was dying, and he wanted to see the Dex holders.

* * *

_044. Two Roads_

"Two roads diverged in the yellow woods..." Gold recited at the funeral, and Crystal tossed a small bouquet of daisies onto the tombstone.

* * *

_045. Illusion_

Crystal buried herself in research after that, trying to put herself under the illusion that she was actually being useful.

* * *

_046. Family_

"He was like my grandfather, like family," she finally sobbed to Gold, who hugged her with a baffled look.

* * *

_047. Creation_

To take her mind off things, Gold taught her how to bake, and while her first creation wasn't exactly good, it did bring a smile to her face.

* * *

_048. Childhood_

"When I have kids, I hope they have a better childhood than me," Crystal confided randomly one day, and Gold blushed for some unknown reason.

* * *

_049. Stripes_

In late June, Gold went out and bought a suit and a tie with stripes, but he wouldn't tell Crystal what they were for, to her distress; last time he didn't tell her something, it had been something that hurt her.

* * *

_050. Breaking the Rules_

She found out why he'd needed them when his boss called to fire him for 'breaking the rules'; she hadn't known about his job.

* * *

_051. Sport_

"Aw, be a sport, Super-Serious Girl," Gold said, backing up. "You'll see what that money's for."

* * *

_052. Deep In Thought_

Crystal liked Gold best when he was deep in thought, and she kept catching him like that, staring at her.

* * *

_053. Keeping A Secret_

She figured he was keeping a secret; she knew this for a fact the third time she walked into a room in time to see him hastily hide his phone behind his back.

* * *

_054. Tower_

"If we want to make this work, you need to tell me what's going on!" Gold shrank back as Crystal towered over him.

* * *

_055. Waiting_

Gold looked positively terrified as he claimed, "I can't tell you that, Crystal," and started waiting for the explosion.

* * *

_056. Ahead_

Ahead of time, Gold had known she'd snap angry or sad, but it almost wasn't worth it when he heard her crying in the bedroom.

* * *

_057. Sacrifice_

Crystal pretended nothing was wrong after that, but the sacrifice was that she broke her own heart and Gold had nothing to do with it.

* * *

_058. Kick In The Head_

Then Gold took her to Cerulean Bay again and got down on one knee and the glittering diamond ring was a kick-in-the-teeth reminder of exactly how _dense_ she could be sometimes.

* * *

_059. No Way Out_

Suddenly, Crystal felt like the air had no way out of her lungs, and Gold had to support her weight as he crouched around her.

* * *

_060. Rejection_

She noticed then that his face was serious, intelligent amber eyes calculating, and she exclaimed, "You're expecting a rejection, aren't you?" and hugged him around the neck.

* * *

_061. Fairy Tale_

Gold's thoughts as Crystal walked down the isle in the floating dress Blue had helped her pick were only that she looked like a princess straight from a fairy tale.

* * *

_062. Magic_

They danced in the center of the floor to "I'll Be" and hoped the magic would never die.

* * *

_063. Do Not Disturb_

As Gold hung the 'do not disturb' sign on the door to their honeymoon cabin near Snowpoint City, Crystal shivered into her brand-new lingerie in the bathroom.

* * *

_064. Multitasking_

Gold whispered made-up lines of poetry whenever they made love; Crystal wondered if he was a closet romantic or if he was just multitasking.

* * *

_065. Horror_

The look of horror on Gold's face when Crystal got her 'time of the month' halfway through their honeymoon was priceless.

* * *

_066. Traps_

When Crystal didn't get enough sleep, she set traps in conversations so that Gold couldn't win no matter what he said.

* * *

_067. Playing The Melody_

In the autumn, they went for walks in the park and listened to a lone guitarist playing the melody to 'Cowboy Casanova' and wondered how Gold would've turned out if they hadn't met.

* * *

_068. Hero_

"Quit trying to be a hero," Green warned Gold at Red and Yellow's wedding; he'd tried to lead Crystal onto the dance floor before the newlyweds even got the chance to finish their wedding cake.

* * *

_069. Annoyance_

The third time Gold lost a job, Crystal almost slapped him in annoyance, only stopping because she reminded herself of her mother.

* * *

_070. 67%_

"I'm 67% sure I'm pregnant," Crystal bluntly told Gold, and he was 100% sure he was terrified.

* * *

_071. Obsession_

Gold found a new obsession in job-searching because he needed to support his new family, but also because he didn't want to be around the house when hormones really kicked in.

* * *

_072. Managed_

He managed to find work as an agent in Silph Co., and Crystal was both relieved and distressed by his absence.

* * *

_073. I Can't_

"I can't," Gold said over the phone when they told him he needed to move to Saffron City, and there was another job lost.

* * *

_074. Are You Challenging Me?_

"Are you challenging me? Just buy me some chocolate!" Crystal howled through the bathroom door, and Gold hastily obliged.

* * *

_075. Mirror_

Gold was staring at his exhausted eyes in the mirror when he heard Crystal yelp, fall down, and weakly call for assistance.

* * *

_076. Broken Pieces_

When the doctor confirmed that Crystal would no longer be having a baby, Gold punched the mirror, and Crystal wordlessly picked up the broken pieces off the linoleum.

* * *

_077. Test_

'Professor' Crystal graded tests on the couch while Gold cooked dinner, and neither of them would have that equation reversed.

* * *

_078. Drink_

Red, who knew something about having children those days, bought Gold a stiff drink when Crystal finally carried her fourth pregnancy all the way to the hospital.

* * *

_079. Starvation_

Crystal, a stickler for ritual, refused to eat until they thought of a name for their new baby boy, and she was on the verge of starvation when Gold ran in, declaring, "Topaz."

* * *

_080. Words_

The first words Topaz spoke were, "Super-Serious Girl," and his parents froze and locked eyes while doing dishes together.

* * *

_081. Pen And Paper_

When Gold handed his son pen and paper, he didn't draw; he did, however, hit the writing implement against the wall until it exploded into a thousand tiny pieces.

* * *

_082. Can You Hear Me?_

"Wait, what?" Crystal said on the phone (over the music of a toddler shrieking) from the school where she worked; "Can you hear me?"

* * *

_083. Heal_

Gold and Crystal squeezed hands and smiled as they watched Red - Topaz's idol - explain to the wide-eyed five-year-old that Pokemon Centers would heal his new Magby for free.

* * *

_084. Out Cold_

But the first time an enemy knocked 'Maggie' out cold, Gold still had to carry the sobbing boy to the nearest town.

* * *

_085. Spiral_

Crystal twisted her hair into a spiral atop her head for her and Gold's first date in nearly seven years.

* * *

_086. Seeing Red_

Another child, another cry of delight when the sex was announced (although this time, it was 'girl'), another toddler who started seeing Red as her hero.

* * *

_087. Food_

Gold called it a special occasion whenever their mom was home to make dinner, but the boy and girl, ten years apart in age, would only eat the food that their father prepared.

* * *

_088. Pain_

The day that Topaz packed his backpack and left home at the age of twelve made Crystal's heart twinge with a pain she hadn't felt since Professor Oak died.

* * *

_089. Through The Fire_

"If... you... can... walk... through... the... fire... you... can... walk... through... most... anything," the girl named Lapis slowly read from a book of old proverbs at age four, and Gold and Crystal knew that they had made it.

* * *

_090. Triangle_

Topaz finally came home when he was fifteen, having collected sixteen badges total, and he wore a new signature look of a gray sweatshirt and a triangle necklace.

* * *

_091. Drowning_

Crystal quit her job, telling Gold that she was drowning in all her work, but really she was jealous of Gold, who spent all day with her daughter.

* * *

_092. All That I Have_

"For all that I have loved these last forty or so years of knowing you, Super-Serious Girl," Gold proclaimed drunk on his fiftieth birthday, "I gotta say that my favorite moments were when you left your hair down and just wore some old clothes like you didn't even care."

* * *

_093. Give Up_

"Give up," Crystal growled during one of the many hours the aging couple now had to themselves; "I never lose at chess."

* * *

_094. Last Hope_

"It's my last hope to pay for college," Lapis said firmly as she browsed the internet for scholarships; Gold was stricken by how serious she was... like someone else he knew.

* * *

_095. Advertisement_

Now empty-nest parents, Gold and Crystal snogged on the sofa during commercials, completely guilt-free; it was almost a shame when they had company over.

* * *

_096. In The End_

Crystal's hair turned silver, but Gold lost out in the end when he started balding; Crystal teased him mercilessly.

* * *

_097. Safety First_

As Gold tried to skateboard down a hill for nostalgia, Crystal yelled after the aging man, "Safety first!", but the warning was thankfully unnecessary.

* * *

_098. Puzzle_

It had always puzzled Gold why old people never did 'active' things; as he became one of them, however, his back and knees and memories told him why.

* * *

_099. Solitude_

They sat in solitude next to a koi pond and made wishes for their new grandchildren on every lily that passed by.

* * *

_100. Death_

"You look like death today, Super-Serious Girl," Gold told his wife, tears in his eyes, giving her flowers for the last time.


End file.
